In Politics, The Advocate presents the latest news about the political world. From Supreme Court rulings to state and federal laws, The Advocate reports on how politics shapes the day-to-day realities faced by members of the gay community. Read about LGBT leaders like Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin and their work to advance the causes of the LGBT rights movement in the United States and around the world. Find out about legislation related to same-sex marriage, adoption, and other issues in gay politics that will impact the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

Dispatch 1: Meet
Sharon Malheiro, an Obama supporter and the first
of five LGBT Iowans whom we are getting to know as
we follow them through the Iowa caucus on January 3,
2008, the first step in nominating process on the road
to the White House.

The scapegoating
of gay people in light of the scandal
surrounding disgraced former congressman Mark Foley is
nothing new. It is a tactic honed in the dark days of
the Cold War during the McCarthy-led “purge of
the perverts.”

When a gay campaign worker for Howard Dean flies with his partner and son from Vermont to Iowa—where caucuses to select a Democratic presidential candidate will meet on Monday—he learns as much from the gay and lesbian Iowans he meets as the Iowans do about Dean’s campaign for president.